Portlaoise CBS come good in Leinster Rugby schools ferocious contest
Laois team's refusal to bend sees them win out in Donnybrook over Wicklow team
The patience and perseverance of Portlaoise proved decisive in the Anne McInerney Senior Development Cup final on the main pitch at Energia in Donnybrook.
- ST MARY’S CBS, PORTLAOISE 27
- EAST GLENDALOUGH SCHOOL 24
St Mary’s were first to settle into a ferocious contest in which both sets of forwards were intent on domination.
Centres Conor Raggett and Jake Darcy combined to send Paddy Reddin to the corner for the opening try.
Full-back Will Fitzpatrick was instrumental to carrying EGS forward and number eight Senan Sloan-Kelly battered his way to the line to level it.
Portlaoise regained their footing with a try by hooker Darragh Walker which Raggett managed to convert in the 15th minute.
Thereafter, East Glendalough moved into top gear to record 19 unanswered points, starting with George Tutty’s try born out of Hugo Sloan-Kelly’s creativity, James Curry converting.
The Glendalough boys bounced back into action with authority, Hugo Sloan-Kelly swerving through traffic for a superb try converted by Curry for a double-scores lead.
St Mary’s remained unflustered. They calmly went to their set-piece to generate pressure and a raid on the left ended with Raggett claiming the try in the 46th minute.
The play was swinging from one end to the other and loose kicking assisted in the unpredictability of the counter-attack
Indiscipline on the part of St Mary’s opened the door for Curry to slam through the points to put two scores between them.
The Portlaoise boys were more methodical in their movement, centre Jake Darcy using the fend to good effect before Felix Rotshcild snared a turnover penalty.
Every tackle was cheered and jeered by the vociferous sets of competing supporters, making for a hot atmosphere.
St Mary’s were rolling forward in waves, making and breaching the line without Darrah Walker or Tomi Adeyami grounding the ball.
It was a battle of wills. The weight of pressure from St Mary’s was just too much, Raggett turning on a sixpence to find the line and the conversion with regular time up.
The win sealed a double achieved by the Laois school in Dublin at the The Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior and Junior Development Cup and Shield Finals which took place at Energia Park on Thursday, December 14.
SCORERS: St Mary’s – C Ragett 2 tries, 3 cons; P Reddin, D Walker, D Thornton try each. East Glendalough – S Sloan-Kelly, G Tutty, H Sloan-Kelly, B Johnston try each; J Curry pen, 2 cons.
ST MARY’S CBS: Tadhg O’Sullivan; Coramc Deegan, Conor Raggett, Jake Darcy, Paddy Reddin; Daniel Thornton, Patrick Larkin; Charlie O’Dwyer, Darragh Walker, Ciaran O’Brien-McCormack, Aaron Kingston, Nathan Duffy, Cian Butler, Adam Glynn (Capt), Evan Bergin.
EAST GLENDALOUGH: William Fitzpatrick; George Tutty, Hugo Sloan-Kelly, James Curry, Kai Arthur; Brian Johnston, Conor Anderson; Conor Thornton, Ben Cross, Felix Rothschild, Charlie O’Boyle, Stephen Duke, Zach Kenny, James Deveraux, Senan Sloan-Kelly (Capt).
Replacements – Jack Roe, Jack McCall, Elliot Gaynor, Ryan Williams. Jake Nally, Jake Whyte, Edward Valentine, Louis White.
REFEREE: C Reynolds, Leinster Branch.
Report courtesy of www.LeinsterRugby.ie